1. Classification Notes

2. Taxonomy
Naming and grouping organisms according to their characteristics and evolutionary history.

3. Aristotle
Greek philosopher who first attempted to classify living organisms
Over 2000 years ago

4. Aristotle
He classified living things into two groups:
Plants
Animals

5. Aristotle Why did his system create problems?
Not all living things are plants and animals
Even plants and animals are very diverse
Our knowledge of life has changed

6. Carolus Linnaeus
Swedish scientist who developed our modern system of classification.

7. Carolus Linnaeus
Used morphology (form and structure) to categorize organisms

8. Carolus Linnaeus Developed a hierarchy of levels in his system
Kingdom King
Phylum Phillip
Class Came
Order Over
Family For
Genus Good
Species Soup

9. Species
Remember that a species is a group of organisms that can mate and reproduce fertile offspring
Not a clear cut definition

10. Common Names Most people use common names for organisms
This causes problems
13 lined ground squirrels are often called gophers

11. Scientific Names Scientific names solve the naming problem
Latin is used for most scientific names.

12. Binomial Nomenclature
All organisms are given a genus and a species name.
This way all people can use the same name to identify organisms

13. Genus and Species
The genus name comes first and begins with a capital letter.
Ex. Felis (it can be abbreviated as F.
The species names comes second and begins with a lower case letter.
Ex. domesticus
*Both the genus and species names are usually italicized and often underlined.
Ex. Felis domesticus

14. How do we classify organisms today?
Not so much on physical similarities (can be based too much on opinions).
Scientific evidence is a better way to do this.

15. Evidence for Classification
Chromosome Structure
Biochemical Similarities
Embryology
DNA Sequencing
Reproduction

16. Systems of Classification
Linnaeus used 2 Kingdoms
Plant
Animal

17. Modern Kingdoms Animalia Plantae Fungi Protista Archaebacteria
Eubacteria

18. Animalia
Multicellular heterotrophs

19. Plantae
Multicellular autotrophs

20. Fungi Most are multicellular Yeast is unicellular
Absorb food through cell walls

21. Archaebacteria Unicellular prokaryotes Related to first life forms
Live in harsh environments

22. Eubacteria
Unicellular prokaryotes
Includes most bacteria

23. Classification of a human
Kingdom = Animalia
Phylum = Chordata
Class = Mammalia
Order = Primate
Family = Hominid
Genus = Homo
Species = sapien